A Californian judge chucked out a case by former dictator Manuel Noriega's against publisher Activision for including his likeness in Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

What got Noriega's goat was that his likeness appeared in the game in a non-too nice way and no one thought to write him a cheque.

The suit, filed in July, alleged that Black Ops II's depiction of Noriega was "blatant misuse, unlawful exploitation and misappropriation for economic gain." Activision fought back hard, recruiting former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani to help defend them in court.

"This ruling is an important victory and we thank the court for protecting free speech," Giuliani said in a press release. "This was an absurd lawsuit from the very beginning and we're gratified that in the end, a notorious criminal didn't win. This is not just a win for the makers of Call of Duty, but is a victory for works of art across the entertainment and publishing industries throughout the world."

A company that is better known for its graphics cards wants to try a new thing and expand to the chassis market. The XFX team at Cebit has showcased a beta version of a nicely designed aluminium case. There is still no word on branding, the only thing certain that XFX logo will find its way onto it.

XFX is using some nice looking aluminium wrapped around a black birdcage styled case. There is plenty of space for ventilation and you will even have a glimpse to see some LEDs inside the case. The design might change as it is still in the early stage and the company might consider using some sound insulation in the future.

The back side has many openings, including four possible rubber flapped holes for water-cooling, and it should be able to cope with multiple graphics cards and a bottom placed PSU. The thing will come in a few months so there might be some changes in the production version.

From what we can tell, it looks like a high quality product, with a nice finish. It is well designed, but people will want to see the thermal specs when it comes out. It could be a very nice choice for high end rigs.

Just kidding of course, even Daredevil would've seen it coming, as Samsung and Apple continue their fight for the right to "innovate". Unfortunately, most of their innovations as of late have come on the legal front, i.e. how to spoil the other company's fun in an innovative manner.

According to Samsung's claims, Apple's iPad Mini, 4th gen iPad and 5th gen iPod Touch are in violation of Sammy's patents. The company is pretty much continuing the case against previous Apple devices, claiming that "all Apple products including a built-in speaker and an external audio output port" infringe on this patent.

In related news, Apple has received court orders to disclose details of its settlement with HTC to Samsung, so the entire legal war between the two is seriously approaching angry brat levels. The two companies are to continue their ongoing battle on 6th of December, so we'll see how that goes.

The class action against Sony over the fiasco involving its PSN service is about to be dismissed, or at least all signs point to that.

The case argued that Sony showed negligence and violated consumer protection rights of California by denying restitution and injunctive relief claims. It was said that earlier attacks made it clear Sony’s network was vulnerable, but that the company still did nothing to address this.

However, judge Anthony Battaglia dismissed these claims for lack of evidence of actual economic loss. Plaintiffs apparently failed to produce any actual proof, although amending and resubmitting evidence is still an option.

Apparently, the fact that PSN service is free of charge helped Sony with charges of violating consumer protection laws. By consenting to the company’s privacy policy, users agreed to the notion of “no such thing as perfect security”. Thus, customers had no right to expect uninterrupted service at all times.

The case can be amended and evidence resubmitted by 9th of November, but it is not very likely that Sony will be found guilty in the end.

IBM has told Wall Street that it has had to pay $160 million due to a ruling by the high court in London, in a legal dispute over retirement terms at its UK business. Big Blue said that the charges would not affect the company's operating reported results for the third quarter of 2012.

The company has been having a row with its employees over terms of its pensions for ages. The court decided that terms set in 1983 should be modified to allow some current IBM UK employees who are members of a specific plan to retire from the age of 60 instead of 63 without reduction of their defined benefit pension.

IBM said that it was considering an appeal. The company is scheduled to report on its third quarter financial results on Oct 16.

Nanoxia is launching its first computer case dubbed the Deep Silence 1 and the company is quite excited since this is its first. The marketing campaign has been in full swing for a few months already, but if you haven’t caught a glimpse of it, you should know the hype was justified. We'd like to thank pc-cooling.de for kindly providing us with the testing sample.

The name Deep Silence 1 suggests Nanoxia plans to follow up with more cases and we're fine with that. It was built with lots of care and follows the latest trends. At the same time, it sports a few unique and interesting features that, if nothing else, are worth taking a look at.

I knew how the Deep Silence 1 looks but didn’t recognize it once it was out of the box. That was my bad though – the case was upside down.

Jokes aside, the Deep Silence 1 relies on simple design for the uniform look. The name already suggests aiming for silence rather than flashy looks, and the case is as sealed off as possible.

Nanoxia made sure to provide plenty of info on the Deep Silence 1 on the package, text and pictures. The end result looks good, but it could use cutout handles for easier carrying.

The installation manual is written in German, English, French and Spanish, but has plenty of pictures and descriptions of features. You’ll find an ESP extension cable in the box and solid plugs to replace the water cooling grommets. Nanoxia threw in a 5.25’’-to-3.5’’converter as well, which is a welcome addition at a time when many manufacturers no longer do that.

The front panel has soundproofed doors, confirmation enough for the company’s quest for silence. The doors are made of plastic, but quality piano black finish gives them a metal look. There is no option to flip the location of the door hinges.

The top door hides three 5.25’’bays, reset switch and 2x fan control. The bottom door hides two 12cm fans.

Front fans are equipped with an easy to clean dust filter. You can access the fan and/or dustfilter by pushing the arrow on the fan panel.

The door blocks all air from the front but the Deep Silence 1 has air intakes on the sides.

The case has two Nanoxia DS1202512SELN 1300 RPM fans. Taking the fans and their filters out is a breeze.

The fan cover utilizes a “click” mechanism. It’s worth noting that although more convenient, these mechanisms are also more prone to wearing out with age and use. In our case, every single one worked flawlessly but owners will probably want to refrain from excessive force after hearing the click, just to be safe. Nanoxia gives a two year warranty with the Deep Silence 1.

Front door locks rely on magnets, which are a more reliable and durable solution. The following picture shows where the magnets are – the screws mark the spot.

We found a few screw holes in the front panel frame, hidden with foam caps. Some of the caps were quite loose, which is what actually caught our attention in the first place. In fact, had there not been for the caps, we’re sure most users wouldn’t even notice. This of course isn’t something that will affect operation, or even annoy you when it’s behind the door, but it doesn’t do the case much justice either.

To remove the front panel simply hold the cutout at the bottom of the front panel and pull it towards you with a firm tug. The panel isn’t as polished inside as it is outside. We found traces of glue around magnet holes, but this is the interior after all, so it can be tolerated.

The front panel does not have to be removed unless you want to stick a radiator behind the front fans.

The top panel is sealed off for the computer to be as quiet as possible. Another important feature the Deep Silence 1 is the Air Chimney, which provides additional passive cooling from the top panel. Keeping it closed will maintain the uniform design and silence.

The Air Chimney can easily be opened or closed using the slider on the side of the top cover.

The Deep Silence has two USB 3.0 connectors, two USB 2.0 connectors and audio in/audio out jacks.

The I/O panel can be retracted into the case when not in use, a gentle press until a click will do. ON/OFF is the only key that’s not hidden.

The top panel can house two 140/120mm fans. Setting it up requires taking off the top lid. It is done by holding the recess provided at the rear of the case and pulling it upwards with a firm tug. It didn’t take much effort, and the same goes for the front panel.

The fan should be held inside and secured to the top by fastening the screws from the outside. The fans can be connected to the supplied fan controller.

The right panel is fully closed. The left panel is also closed, but one part of it can be opened if needed.

The panels have a slight matte feel to them and you can see it on the pictures – they scatter light equally. It won’t catch fingerprints easy but it will require cleaning.

The left side panel comes soundproofed. The 2-layer insulating material consists of bitumen layer and layer of foam compound. The right panel wasn’t treated and weighs much less than the left.

If you want to install a fan in the left side panel, remove the outer cover by loosening the screws inside it. You can leave the dust filter.

There was no need to treat the right panel as it is closed.

The panels are held in place by two screws and are generally easy to take off on and put back.

The rear panel houses eight expansioin slots and a single 14cm fan (1100RPM). The expansion holes have mesh covers, although closed covers may seem more fitting for a silent case.

There are four water cooling holes, so that appropriate water cooling components can be operated or mounted externally.

PSU is mounted in the bottom, fan down, but can be mounted facing up as well. The PSU dust filter is removable without opening the case. It’s long enough to cover the 120/140mm fan slot as well. The Deep Silence 1 has 2cm feet and is quite stable on them.

The Deep Silence 1 takes ATX, micro-ATX and mini-ATX motherboards. Nanoxia left a total of nine cable management holes in the motherboard tray. Among the cables we found inside, and there were a lot, we found six fan connectors, originating from the fan controller on the front panel. The controller must be connected to a 4-pin Molex cable. The USB 3.0 connector is internal.

The Deep Silence 1 comes with three installed fans, two of which are 12cm ones on the front and a 14cm one on the rear panel. Additionally, two 12/14cm fans can be mounted on the top panel, a single 12/14cm on the bottom and a 12/14cm fan on the side panel, which means the Deep Silence 1 supports up to seven fans.

If you decide to strap the Deep Silence with a fan on the bottom panel, you’ll need to take off the plastic part that acts as HDD cage holder. The PSU will be stable thanks to the two rubber feet that although glued to the bottom, will not come off easily.

The Deep Silence 1 can take up to eight drives in the three sections of its HDD cage (2x3 HDD 1x2 HDD).

The top two cages are interchangeable and can also be removed if required. Same goes for the bottom one, in case you need to put a 240mm radiator behind the front fans. In order not to run out of HDD space, Nanoxia made sure that a cage can be placed in the designated holder on the bottom, closer to the PSU.

Maximum VGA length is 315mm (up to 445mm with HDD cage removed). Maximum CPU cooler height is up to 185mm.

The hard disk drives are installed on frames which feature rubber grommets (for 3.5” drives). Each mounting frame takes 2.5” or 3.5” drives. In order to extract the frame, squeeze the bracket handles and pull the slider out.

Installing optical drives is tool-less. The Deep Silence 1 comes with a 5.25’’-3.5“ converter in the bottom 5.25’’ slot.

Cable management holes have rubber grommets that are fixed firmly in place and will prevent cable wear and tear. There is about 1.7cm of space between the right panel and motherboard tray.

Towards the top of the tray are two more holes for CPU power and fan cables.

Locking and loading the Deep Silence 1 was easy. Knowing our test board, EVGA’s X58 FTW3, we made sure to mount the CPU cooler before throwing the board inside. We thought we probably won’t be able to put the cooler in later, although to be fair, EVGA X58 FTW3’s CPU socket is almost on the edge of the board. All in all, we had fun setting up the Deep Silence 1.

Not even a bunch of cables on the back will prevent the door from closing. It’s nice that the tie straps can be released if you pull the tiny part sticking out with your nail.

The Deep Silence 1 is quite roomy and most scenarios still leave the space you see on the right freed up.

The Deep Silence 1 has eight expansion slots but our ATX motherboard, which is standard sized at 305mm, can only reach the seventh one. The 2cm between the motherboard and the PSU could’ve been utilized towards the top of the case, like with thicker water cooling radiators.

Cooler Master Hyper 612S fit nicely and we had no problems getting it in there, but it left just enough room for the top panel fan (picture below). However, as long as the cooler does not go over the edge of the motherboard, there will be room for a radiator on the top panel.

The top panel has many holes and it’s easy to get confused. You can mount a 200mm fan here as well, but we threw in a 140mm one.

As we said before, maximum supported VGA length is 315mm (up to 445mm with the HDD cage removed) and maximum CPU cooler height is up to 185mm.

Various layouts with three HDD cages is among the Deep Silence 1’s greatest strengths. If you need a reference for the PSU, the Silent Pro 800W PSU (picture below) is 15.5cm long, and there is about 5cm left between it and the HDD cage (if you choose to put it there of course).

Note that front panel doors with sound insulation have their own set of common problems, mostly with gear that has many buttons sticking out, such as fan controllers. Thankfully, the Deep Silence comes with ha two channel controller supporting up to six fans (three per channel).

As we showed you earlier, all intakes (front, bottom, left side panel) are readily accessible and have easy to clean dust filters.

The top panel boasts the Air Chimney, which is controlled with a handle on the left side panel.

The expansion slot covers were a bit hard to take out. The problem is in the bent part that prevents smooth operation.

Once we finished everything and started up the computer, green LED lit up the power key. The fans in the case are painted green, but have no LEDs. Besides, who needs glowing fans in a closed case?

As far as performance goes, the three stocked fans do a good job, but longer gaming and more intense CPU usage will require opening the Air Chimney and venting the case out. You could also speed up the fans to the max – they won’t introduce much noise.

Running our GTX 680 Signature 2 with the Air Chimney opened and fans maxed out resulted in °63C. The GPU was fine but the CPU (QuadCore Intel Core i7-930, 3GHz) was dangerously aproaching the limit. Note however that the CPU cooler we used is semi passive.

Inserting one 14cm silent fan on the top panel turned to be very good investment and the image below speaks for itself. The top fan acted as a CPU cooler fan. Also if we compare the results, it is obvious that you can do away with three fans as long as your graphics card cooling is good.

Nanoxia definitely isn’t the first company to spring to mind when thinking of computer cases, as the company built its name making quality fans, but if the Deep Silence 1 is anything to go by, that is about to change. The name itself suggests that we’ll see more models and Nanoxia can surely give the competition a hard time.

The company aimed at making a silent case and this is where the Deep Silence 1 excels. Silent cases usually come with closed side panels, in order to keep noise to a minimum, and the Deep Silence 1 isn’t an exception. This contributed to a clean and simple, yet stylish look.

The Deep Silence comes stocked with three silent fans but supports up to seven fans. Nanoxia threw in some tricks for quick cooling boosts, no fans included. One of these tricks is called the Air Chimney, which is basically a mobile part of the top panel that can be raised to act as an exhaust. Users can counteract heat generation under the top panel by simply opening the Air Chimney and allowing the heat to escape.

Nanoxia made sure the Deep Silence 1 is up to the latest standards and the case brings USB 3.0, sound isolation on the front and side panels, modular HDD brackets, room for largest graphics cards and CPU coolers, etc. It is tough, stable and offers what should be enough for most users. We did notice that metal quality and finishing touches aren’t quite up to Cooler Master or Fractal Design standards, despite seemingly resembling some.

The Deep Silence 1 is currently listed at about €109, which we’d call some €10 too steep. On the other hand, this is Nanoxia’s first step on the market and what a step it is, so we’ll cut them some slack. The case is feature packed, perhaps more than some other cases in this price range, and is definitely the one to remember, so let the first one be crowned, we say.

Apple fanboys who were early adopters of the iPhone 5 are fast finding out that maps don't work, but the design seems to be shoddy as well. Apple stores are starting to get complaints that the shiny toys are fast becoming scratched and scuffed and in the few days since they were sold are starting to look rubbish.

However according to an email to a 9to5Mac reader by Senior Vice President of Marketing Phil Schiller, Apple had no intention of fixing the problem. He said that any aluminum product may scratch or chip with use, exposing its natural silver colour.

That is normal, he said. In otherwords fanboys are idiots for buying phones made of the stuff it is not Apple's fault they did not think the shiny metal body thing through.

Apparently the black iPhone 5?s back tends to scratch much easier than its glass-backed iPhone 4/4S predecessors. However, the aluminum back obviously stands up to drops much better than glass.

Apple thinks that scratches are less important than actually breaking, which is a good point. Anyway the phones are designed to be obsolete in a year so how scratched can you get a phone in a year?

The US ITC said it will investigate if Apple has nicked Motorola technology in its iPhones, iPods, iMacs and tablets.

Motorola is asking for import bans on just about every iOS device, including the Mac OS X computer, claiming Apple's iMessage technology infringes a Motorola patent. On the whole, Motorola names seven patents, all of which are allegedly infringed upon by some or all of these iOS devices: the iPod Touch, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, and all three generations of the iPad. Presumably, the iPhone 5 will be complained about later.

This patent, filed for in 2001 and issued in 2006, covers a "System for providing continuity between messaging clients and method therefor." Motorola said that Apple's iMessage client for iOS and Mac OS X violates a claim in that patent covering "A plurality of messaging clients within a messaging communication system for providing continuity between the plurality of messaging clients comprising: a first messaging client, for establishing a first communication connection including a plurality of client data with a message server; and a second messaging client for receiving the plurality of client data from the first messaging client and for establishing a second communication connection including the plurality of client data with the message server."

iMessage provides a common messaging client between iOS and Mac OS X devices, with users being able to "start a messaging conversation on an OS X Mountain Lion device such as a MacBook Air, and continue the conversation on another device running the 'iMessage' messaging client on iOS 5 software, such as an iPhone 4S." This idea did not spring fully formed from the head of Steve Jobs but was already invented by Motorola, the ITC was told.

Motorola said that iMessage on the MacBook Air "establishes a first communication connection via WiFi or LAN or otherwise resulting in the exchange of data with Apple's message server." The iMessage messaging client on the iPhone 4S can establish a second communication via WiFi or 3G that results in the receipt of data from Apple's message server."

The ITC announcement that it will open an investigation into "certain Apple iPhones, iPods, iPads, and Apple personal computers” is a sign that the ITC thinks the claim might have legs. It does not mean that it thinks that it does yet.

Former president of the Industrial Designers Society of America has Peter Bressler taken the stand as Apple’s expert witness in the company’s legal crusade against Samsung, and claimed, quite expectedly if we may add, that iPhone and Galaxy phones are “substantially the same”.

Bressler testified about three patents for which Samsung is being sued and said that a dozen of Samsung’s products infringe on them. Asked about the actual likeness of the devices and their distinctiveness on the market, he said that Samsung willingly chose the design that mimicked Apple.

It appears however that Bressler wasn’t so persuasive when cross-examined, as he conceded that mixing up the two brands is unlikely, despite Samsung’s efforts. He added, however, that industrial designers notice small details that make up the image of a device, of which regular users may not be aware.

Bressler also cited Best Buy’s survey, whereby Samsung products were returned because customers thought they were buying iPads. To be fair though, the terms iPhone and iPad have often been mistaken for generic names for phones and tablets, and we have a strong hunch by which camp exactly.

Over the course of his testimony, Brissler dismissed Samsung’s nitpicking over radius of the corners and whatnot. He will take the stand again on Tuesday, while the original Macintosh designer Susan Kare is expected to follow.

A US judge has dismissed Apple's injunction claim against Motorola, although he's left them an option of appeal.

The final 38-page ruling reads:"Apple is complaining that Motorola's phones as a whole ripped off the iPhone as a whole (...) But Motorola's desire to sell products that compete with the iPhone is a separate harm - and a perfectly legal one - from any harm caused by patent infringement." The judge argued that Apple failed to prove that it lost market share, brand recognition or customer goodwill to Motorola.

Analysts aren't surprised at the outcome. Namely, the judge was inclined to dismiss the case and had cancelled a jury trial earlier.

Patent consultant Florian Mueller said he is sure that the case will be appealed to the Federal Circuit. He added that Apple "didn't do its homework in terms of expert reports and witnesses" to get something out of the case.

Seeing as how nobody is interested in backing down, we're likely to hear more news on this front.